James Shield: Sheffield United should take heart from Man City boss Pep Guardiola's touchline antics

It was Pep Guardiola’s body language, as City’s manager spent just over an hour of yesterday’s contest gesticulating wildly on the touchline before eventually retreating into his shell once the Algerian had guaranteed their progress with a quick-fire brace.

One prominent journalist had used his social media account to ponder whether this game, which pitted together perhaps the world’s finest collection of footballing talent and a side on the verge of being promoted from the Championship, would become a “shooting fish in the barrel” exercise for Guardiola’s treble-chasing squad. Although they turned out to be worthy winners, eventually suffocating United with their relentless probing and possession, it was nothing of the sort.

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City went strong. Stronger than expected given that they had just faced Bayern Munich in Europe and have a potential Premier League title-decider against Arsenal looming on the horizon.

But it was United who created the first genuine chance of the game, when John Egan met Oliver Norwood’s delivery from a corner and diverted it into Iliman Ndiaye’s path. The crowd held its breath. Guardiola froze, back arched and hands clasped to the side of his shaven skull. When the Senegal international shot, however, City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega guessed correctly and scrambled his effort away to safety.

“The lessons,” United’s Paul Heckingbottom later lamented, “Were the importance of those fine margins.”

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With City dominating the ball but creating little, despite starting Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish, Kyle Walker and Ilkay Gundogan, Guardiola went from anger to despondency - at one stage spending more time staring at his chunky designer shoes than the pitch - until Bernardo Silva was upended by Daniel Jebbison and Mahrez scored from the spot. United’s teenage centre-forward looked disconsolate but should take heart from the fact that Heckingbottom trusted him enough to begin the match ahead of Oli McBurnie.

It was only when Mahrez netted again, just past the hour mark following another lapse in concentration at the back, that Guardiola felt comfortable enough to produce a fist pump and hug members of his coaching staff. The relief the Catalan clearly felt at that moment reflected the challenge, up until their rearguard went AWOL, United had presented City. Mahrez’s third, from a Grealish assist, was expertly crafted. It was one of the rare occasions when the England attacker was able to escape the clutches of the excellent George Baldock, who by then was being encouraged to loiter further upfield.

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Heckingbottom, without on-loan duo Tommy Doyle and James McAtee who were ineligible for selection against their employers, has led United to within three points of securing automatic promotion; something they could achieve against West Bromwich Albion on Wednesday night.

He was right to describe events inside the national stadium as a reminder about the tests United will face on a regular basis if they get there and the importance of being clinical. City ruthlessly exploited the couple of errors Heckingbottom’s men made in an otherwise industrious and combative performance.

“My feeling now is frustration,” he said. “But we went right until the end, as you want it to be. I just can’t get away from the fact we gave City their first two goals. But there are lessons, if we get the points we need, then that is the benchmark. We need to be better. We have to score when we have the chance.”

“To concede a penalty when we did, that was frustrating,” Heckingbottom continued. “The second was even more disappointing though.”

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United’s coaching staff made some big calls ahead of kick-off, with Jebbison’s inclusion ahead of McBurnie a clue towards what was to come. Guardiola referenced United’s work at set-pieces, labelling them “masters” of dead ball situations. One of those, when Norwood found Egan who in turn fed Ndiaye, nearly saw them unlock City before anyone had even broken sweat. Jebbison’s presence in attack also allowed them to break the opposition’s press - another tactical ploy noted by Guardiola afterwards.

“Iliman’s early chance, we changed how we wanted to play,” said Heckingbottom, whose decision to select John Fleck alongside Norwood also initially paid dividends. The Scot, whose athleticism has been questioned by some of late, was disciplined in terms of his positioning and diligently smothered space; forcing City to target the flanks rather than quickly release Haaland. “We went a little bit more direct and we thought set plays would be big and that was the first one,” Heckingbottom added. “The only way we could set that up is by taking those chances.”

Although the 45-year-old and his assistants will pick apart aspects of United’s display, no blame should be attached to those individuals who presented Mahrez with his opening two goals. Only by working collectively could United hope to keep City at bay for such a long period whilst still retaining some sort of threat.

“We have to get back to the day job now,” said Heckingbottom, looking ahead to the meeting with West Brom. “We had composure but, don’t forget, we have a lot more opportunities in our games in our league. I think we had four attempts on goal. We have five times as many as that in our league. We are always pushing we want to be better. And that’s why we have to be better. Because we don’t want to be a team that gets pats on the back. We want to be a team that gets results.”